Yingluck government is obstacle to national unity

Re: "Stepping back from the brink", Opinion, February 17.

I agree with Surin Pitsuwan that no leader is indispensable, especially when holding onto power causes such deep division.

But when Surin suggests the wisest course of action is to unite and rise together to reclaim the unity and dignity of the country back from the brink, I can't see any possibility of that happening.

For example, the Yingluck government, under the control of Thaksin Shinawatra, has been involved in massive and rampant corruption in its own rice-pledging scheme. The problem has spread to farmers being denied payments for their rice because of the government's inability to sell its huge stockpiles.

While politicians and government officials have reaped huge profits from the scheme, a million farmers are still waiting for their rice money, to the point where there have been more than 10 suicides among farmers already.

Hence, with the government having become a big national problem as it is, how can we demand anything less than its resignation if unity is to be regained?

Thailand's problems have gone too far to call for unity at this juncture: Something's got to give first.